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Teddy nods and steps to my side, placing his hand at the small of my back. “This is Charlotte, my wife. She’ll be making the trip with us.”
I snap my head toward him and look at him with big eyes. He reads my face easily and gives me a cool look, implying I go with it.
I let out a nervous chuckle, then turn back to Joseph and give him my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
He shakes it, then steps away. “I’ll open the doors so we can head out.”
Once Joseph disappears again, I look back to Teddy. “Wife?”
His eyes lower as he looks at me up and down. “It’s only a matter of time before it’s true. No better time than now to make it known. This man we are meeting with is a criminal. He has a taste for taking things that don’t belong to him. But he knows I would kill if he tried to take something of mine.”
Something in his voice tells me he’s serious. He would kill for me. “Well…” I look to the big rolling doors of the building as they open and smile. “I expect a ring.”
I walk away without another word.
The plane lands on another private airstrip in Mexico. Luckily, the flight wasn’t too bad. It only took about three hours to get here. The landing though… I’ve never flown a day in my life until today, and honestly, it may be the last. The change of air pressure in the cabin and the minor turbulence were manageable, but the bumpy landing that makes you think the plane is going to fall apart at any second scared me. I don’t like being at the mercy of a machine with no control.
I walk down the steep steps in front of Teddy, so glad to finally be back on land once my feet hit the ground. He pushes me forward lightly to a car waiting a few feet away.
“Are you ready for this, Monkshood?” he whispers behind me.
I open the door and slip into the back seat, scooting over so he can sit beside me. “I feel I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
Teddy replies once he’s settled in beside me, “You do have a choice. If you don’t want this life, you can leave. But you want people to take you serious, right? Get away from all the stigma of being the chief’s daughter?”
I think back to a conversation I had with Sloan not long after my dad’s death. I talked to so many people and tried so many things to get to the bottom of his murder but got nowhere. I told him I was sick of the stigma that came with my name. Now I wonder how many conversations Sloan relayed to Teddy.
“Sloan told you that.” I don’t word it as a question, because I already know the answer.
Teddy nods, looking out the window. “He’s told me a lot of things.”
I try to think back on other things I’ve mentioned to him, but there is too much to shuffle through. Sloan has always been a big part of my life. Before my dad died, he was one of his best friends. I grew up looking at him as an uncle rather than my dad’s colleague.
I push away the thoughts and try to focus on everything happening now. I’m about to meet Teddy’s dealer, a man probably more corrupt than him. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.
